Hot Red Pepper (Capsicum annum L.) Meal Enhanced the Immunity, Performance and Economy of Broilers Fed in Phases

Abstract

Feeding of poultry in phases had been advocated to prevent wastage of nutrients, resources, and environmental pollution; and for optimal performance at every stage of production. The possibility of using organic materials like spices such as hot red pepper meal as feed additive to enhance performance is hereby tested. The effect of dietary Dried Hot Red Pepper-DHRP (Capsicum annum) meal on the performance, haematology, and carcass traits of broilers fed in three phases were evaluated. In a CRD, 240 day-old broiler chicks were allotted to four experimental diets or treatments at the pre-starter (0 - 3rd weeks), starter (4 – 6th weeks) and finisher (7^th week) phases for 7 weeks on deep litter poultry house at 20 chicks per replicate of three. Four experimental diets were formulated for each of the growth phases with 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 % DHRP meal in diets 2, 3 and 4 respectively; while diet 1 without DHRP meal served as the control. The performance at the end of 7^th week showed that feed intake and daily Body Weight Gain (BWG) for birds fed diets with DHRP meal were significantly (p < 0.05) higher than what obtained for those on control diet. The least Feed conversion Ratio-FCR (2.06) and least cost of feed intake per kg BWG (₦273.6) were obtained for birds fed diets with 0.2% DHRP meal. DHRP meal in broilers diet significantly increased the BWG and decreased the FCR and cost of feed intake. The leucocytes of broilers fed diets with DHRP meal beyond 0.1% level were elevated significantly. Relative broilers’ carcass cut and internal organs weights were not adversely affected by DHRP meal-based diets. Inclusion of up to 0.2% hot red pepper meal in broilers diet improved their performance at a lower cost; had no adverse effect on their carcass traits and haematology but elevated the leucocytes cell count as a potential immunity booster.

Keywords: Hot red pepper (Capsicum annum), Performance, Broiler, Haematology, Carcass